Mega Cat Studios: ‘Britt’s Mega Drive Odyssey Part 1: Coffee Crisis’ ☕️ @megacatstudios #IndieGame #IndieGameDev #GameDev #RetroGaming #SEGAGenesis

Since joining GF back in 2016, one of the pleasures of my life has been discovering new titles for one of my favourite consoles – the Mega Drive. There are several companies out there that are doing the Lord’s work in bringing out new games out for SEGA’s saucy black box, but Mega Cat Studios were the first I was made aware off, when I covered Paulo Andres de Matos Villalva’s secretly wonderful ‘Devwill Too’ back in 2020*, and so I’ve always associated them with developing and publishing new MD titles, breathing life back into the system and hopefully getting players worldwide to dust off those creaky controllers!

This is the first in a series that will see us covering a large portion of the Mega Cat Studios Mega Drive-related output, with the end result being an interview and deep dive into the studio itself.

Coffee Crisis is the first title in line – a game that we at GF have covered twice previously for its PC and Switch releases. Of course, playing on original hardware – complete with the all-important physical case, cartridge, and manual – is where the game truly shines.

A game based on two heroic baristas (Ashley & Nick) bashing in the brains of invading body-snatching aliens (called Smurglians) with cafetières and bags of coffee beans, this is a short and sharp side-scrolling brawler for up to two players that ramps up its replayability with rogue-lite elements in the stages. The game is beautifully presented with full colour cover artwork that features our protagonists taking on the Smurglian alien race in a top quality, hand-drawn image. Opening up the case shows the cartridge – which features the same artwork on the cover, and behind this, we can see that the Mega Cat Studios logo is stamped on the case plastic itself, which is a really cool touch that adds a soupçon of class. The manual for Coffee Crisis is quite hefty, and again – full colour, with a foreword from Mega Cat Studios highlighting their passion for the video game medium before moving on to character bios of every single character in the game, listing their likes and dislikes etc. for comedic purposes. It’s a funny and well-written section that quite frankly ended up in me re-discovering Dopesmoker by Sleep. Good. Following the character biographies, there is a heartfelt thank you from the developers followed by an equally tongue-in-cheek synopsis section. It was whilst researching the game that I discovered that Black Forge Coffee House – the real-life Pittsburgh location that acts as the backdrop for the game – as well as making the owners Nick Miller and Ashley Corts main characters – has since sadly closed down, making this feel even more like a snapshot in time, captured forever in video game form, which is kind of cool.

A great little game that captures the spirit and passion of Mega Cat Studios, a vibe that reverberates through the packaging and high level of quality in every aspect of the physical product, Coffee Crisis is fun in both single player and co-op modes, with an awesome soundtrack and a great sense of humour about itself. As you kick Smurglian ass, maybe raise an espresso to Black Forge Coffee House, gone but not forgotten!

*A perfect example of a game that needs to be re-assessed, as it became a bit of a cornerstone for me over the years, and it is routinely one that I return to for its incredibly mood and tone, a fantastic little game that really crept up on me.

Coffee Crisis Purchase Link -  also available on other platforms